LESSON 4 TEACHER’S GUIDE
Our Town
by Taiyo Kobayashi
Fountas-Pinnell Level C
Informational Text
Selection Summary
The narrator presents key locations in his town and why each is
important to the community: a store, a park, a post office, a zoo, a
school, a pet shop, a library, and a pool.
Number of Words: 103
Characteristics of the Text
Genre
Text Structure
Content
Themes and Ideas
Language and
Literary Features
Sentence Complexity
Vocabulary
Words
Illustrations
Book and Print Features
• Informational Text
• First-person narrator is used in the plural (we).
• Each page focuses on a particular place and its importance to the community.
• Community needs
• Community businesses, organizations, and recreational opportunities
• People in a community have many needs that the community is set up to meet.
• People in a community have a sense of togetherness and belonging.
• First-person-plural narrator (we) gives the selection a conversational tone, as if the author
is describing his town directly to the reader
• Text pattern: First sentence begins with Our town and names a particular location. Second
sentence begins with We and usually ends with at the (location name).
• Each sentence begins on a new line.
• Place names are likely to be familiar places and have strong photo support: store, park,
post office, zoo, school, pet shop, library, and pool.
• Phrases used to explain the location’s importance use familiar vocabulary: get food, see
animals, pick a puppy, read books.
• Familiar words are repeated: Our town; We ___ at the ___.
• Many familiar one-syllable words: town, store, food, run, pet, read, swim, lots
• Possible decoding challenges: animals, post office, and library
• Photographs support each page of text.
• Nine pages of text, with photographs on each page
• No more than three lines of text per page, with extra space between each word
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
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Our Town
by Taiyo Kobayashi
Build Background
Read the title and author to children. Have them name their city or town. Discuss special
celebrations in the town, linking to the parade on the cover. Tell children that every city or
town also has certain kinds of places that people use for different reasons: to get things
they want or need, to have fun, to work, and to learn. Anticipate the text with prompts like
these: What places in town do you and your family visit? Why do you go there?
Introduce the Text
Guide children through the text, noting important ideas, and helping with unfamiliar
language. Explain important features, such as the fact that each page is about a different
place in town and tells why that place is important. Here are some suggestions:
Page 2: Explain that this book tells about all the places people go in a town and
what they do at each place.
Suggested language: On each page, the author tells you about a place in his town
and why people go there. Turn to page 2. What do you see? This woman is at a
store. The book says: We get food at the store. Say the word food. What letter
would you expect to see first in the word food? Find the word food and put your
finger under it.
Page 3: Remind children that they can use information in the pictures to help them
read. Turn to page 3. What else does the town have? The book says: Our town has
a park. Say the word Our. The word Our has three letters and it starts with the letter
O. You will find Our on lots of pages in this book. Find the word Our and put your
finger under it. And you can see that Our starts with uppercase O because it comes
at the beginning. What can you tell from the picture about what happens at the
park?
Page 5: On page 5 we see that this town has a zoo. What are all the animals you
see? What animals do you like most at the zoo?
Now go back to the beginning and read to find out about all the different places in
this town.
Words to Know
all
get
Grade 1
food
our
2
see
we
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Read
As the children read, observe them carefully. Guide them as needed, using language that
supports their problem solving ability.
Respond to the Text
Personal Response
Ask children to share their personal responses to the selection. Begin by asking what they
liked best about the selection or what they found interesting.
Suggested language: Which of the places in this town would you like to visit? Why?
Ways of Thinking
As you discuss the text, make sure children understand these teaching points:
Thinking Within the Text
Thinking Beyond the Text
Thinking About the Text
• The town has many places to
visit: a store, a park, a post
office, a zoo, a school, a pet
shop, a library, and a pool.
• People live together in a town
because it has lots of things in
one place, things they need or
things they like to do.
• On each page, the author tells
about one place in the town and
why it is important.
• The people in town go to these
places for special reasons, to get
or do different things.
• When people live together in a
town, they feel like they have lots
of friends around them.
• Because the author uses we,
readers feel like he is talking to
them.
• The people who live here have
lots of friends in the town.
© 2006. Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Heinemann, Portsmouth, N.H.
Choices for Support
Concepts of Print
To provide practice with return sweeps, have children point to each word in the second
sentence on various pages as they read, sweeping from right-to-left at the end of a line.
Phonemic Awareness and Word Work
Provide practice as needed with words and sounds, using one of the following activities:
• Listening Game Identify the initial sound /p/, stressing it as you say pen, park, and
pony. Have children listen for initial /p/ as you read the text on p. 7, raising their hands
for words beginning with /p/ (pet, pick, puppy, pet). Have them suggest other words
that start with /p/.
• Build Sentences Materials: index cards. Write place names from the selection
on index cards: store, park, post office, school, zoo, pool, pet shop, library. Have
children brainstorm a few other places in their town they might visit. Write them on
index cards. Then have children take turns picking a place and coming up with an
oral sentence that tells about it. If children are having trouble, you might provide this
sentence frame: I go to (place name) to _____.
Grade 1
3
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Writing About Reading
Critical Thinking
Read the directions for children on BLM 4.7 and guide them in answering the questions.
Responding
Read aloud the questions at the back of the book and help children complete
the activities.
Target Comprehension Skill
Text and Graphic Features
Tell children that pictures in books—
illustrations or photographs—are important parts of the books. They help the reader
understand what the text is saying. They are also fun for the reader to look at. Model how
to use pictures while reading:
Think Aloud
On page 5, the book says: We see all the animals at the zoo. I’m
wondering what some of those animals might be. But then I look at the
photos. I see a giraffe, a polar bear, and a seal. The polar bear makes me
laugh. The photos help me understand what kind of animals are at a zoo.
They also help me enjoy the book.
Practice the Skill
Have children choose another photo from the book and tell what they learn from looking at
the picture.
Writing Prompt
Read aloud the following prompt. Have children draw and write their response, using the
writing prompt on page 6.
Which place in this town would you like to visit? Draw a picture. Show what you are
doing there.
Write about why you want to go there.
Grade 1
4
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English Language Learners
Vocabulary Support Some locations may be somewhat unfamiliar to children. Use
the photos and text to revisit and discuss certain places in more depth. Invite children
to act out visiting a place as you comment, in simple sentences, on their actions. For
example: You are at a pool. You are swimming in the water. You are having fun.
Oral Language Development
Check the children’s comprehension, using a dialogue that best matches their
English proficiency level. Speaker 1 is the teacher, Speaker 2 is the child.
Beginning/ Early Intermediate
Intermediate
Early Advanced/ Advanced
Speaker 1: You read about lots of
different places in a town. Look at
page 4. What place is this?
Speaker 1: The author told you about
different places in the town. Look
at photo on page 8. What are these
children doing and where are they?
Speaker 1: What two things does
the author tell you about places
in the town?
Speaker 2: the post office
Speaker 1: Look at page 5. What place
is this?
Speaker 2: the zoo
Speaker 1: What can you see at a zoo?
Speaker 2: animals
Speaker 2: He tells you what the
place is. He tells why people go
to this place.
Speaker 2: They are reading books at
the library.
Speaker 1: Name two other places in the
town.
Speaker 1: Name two places
the author talks about. Why do
people go there?
Speaker 2: a store and a park (post
office, zoo, library, pet shop, pool,
school)
Speaker 2: examples: The
library—people go there to read
books. The zoo—people go there
to see animals.
Lesson 4
BLACKLINE MASTER 4.7
Name
Think About It
Our Town
Think About It
Write the word that completes each
sentence.
box
1. You can mail a
horse
slide
2. There are books to read at the
shop
at the post office.
box
library
library
.
school
Making Connections Think about a place in
your town. Draw a picture of the place. Label
your picture.
Read directions to children.
Think About It
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Grade 1
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Grade 1, Unit 1: Around the Neighborhood
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Lesson 4: Our Town
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Name
Date
Our Town
Which place in this town would you like to visit?
Draw a picture. Show what you are doing there.
Write about why you want to go there.
Grade 1
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Lesson 4: Our Town
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Lesson 4
BLACKLINE MASTER 4.7
Name
Think About It
Our Town
Think About It
Write the word that completes each
sentence.
1. You can mail a
horse
at the post office.
slide
box
2. There are books to read at the
shop
library
.
school
Making Connections Think about a place in
your town. Draw a picture of the place. Label
your picture.
Grade 1
7
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Student
Lesson 4
Date
BLACKLINE MASTER 4.11
Our Town • LEVEL C
page
2
Our Town
Running Record Form
Selection Text
Errors
Self-Corrections
Accuracy Rate
Self-Correction
Rate
Our town has a store.
We get food
at the store.
3
Our town has a park.
We run and play
at the park.
4
Our town has a post office.
We get mail
from the post office.
5
Our town has a zoo.
We see all the animals
at the zoo.
Comments:
(# words read
correctly/49 x 100)
(# errors + #
Self-Corrections/
Self-Corrections)
%
1:
Read word correctly
Code
✓
cat
Repeated word,
sentence, or phrase
®
Omission
—
cat
cat
Grade 1
Behavior
Error
0
0
1
Substitution
Code
cut
cat
1
Self-corrects
cut sc
cat
0
Insertion
the
1
Word told
T
cat
8
cat

Error
1413429
Behavior
1
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